Summer swim team question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid can only do afternoon practices and does not want to swim in meets. The coaches were totally fine with that. I wanted him to do swim team to become a strong swimmer, and not doing the meets was our compromise. Our pool is a lower level pool in the moco swim league, and I doubt DD would swim in the A meets anyway.

That’s annoying. You should’ve just signed up for lessons. How is that part of a team? I would be mad that you are hogging up lane space because your child doesn’t even want to try a meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid can only do afternoon practices and does not want to swim in meets. The coaches were totally fine with that. I wanted him to do swim team to become a strong swimmer, and not doing the meets was our compromise. Our pool is a lower level pool in the moco swim league, and I doubt DD would swim in the A meets anyway.

That’s annoying. You should’ve just signed up for lessons. How is that part of a team? I would be mad that you are hogging up lane space because your child doesn’t even want to try a meet.

Long time swim parent here and I would be happy that your kid was there. It is great exercise, and your child may end up changing their mind. Our coaches wouldn't care, although they might try to encourage them to try a meet.

One of my dds cried thru many practices and ultimately sat out and or skipped events (at B meets) because it was too much for her when she started. She's now 11 and loves it and swims A meets, too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid can only do afternoon practices and does not want to swim in meets. The coaches were totally fine with that. I wanted him to do swim team to become a strong swimmer, and not doing the meets was our compromise. Our pool is a lower level pool in the moco swim league, and I doubt DD would swim in the A meets anyway.

That’s annoying. You should’ve just signed up for lessons. How is that part of a team? I would be mad that you are hogging up lane space because your child doesn’t even want to try a meet.

Long time swim parent here and I would be happy that your kid was there. It is great exercise, and your child may end up changing their mind. Our coaches wouldn't care, although they might try to encourage them to try a meet.

One of my dds cried thru many practices and ultimately sat out and or skipped events (at B meets) because it was too much for her when she started. She's now 11 and loves it and swims A meets, too

Fair point. I would at least ask the child to go to the meets and cheer for his/her teammates.

[Anonymous]

Our team makes you swim in at least 2 meets.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What's wonderful about swimming, as compared to classic team sports, is how objective it is.
You know your exact times on the races, and you know everyone else's exact time. No arguing over whose better or worse.
With that said, swim team coaches preach non-stop about "dropping time", and can, and will, put swimmers with slightly lower scores into A meets if they're improving, over someone with better scores that have plateaued.
TL;DR version...the more practice you go to the better, but if you miss a few it won't kill you.

Bs - please do tell the name of the team that does this. We’ve been at 3 summer pools and I’ve never seen this. Pool Name, please.

Each kid can only swim two individual events at a meet. Often the same child is in the top 2 or 3 swimmers in all four strokes, so they have to strategically decide which events they want their top one or two swimmers in, versus the other events.

This!

If a kid is NOT already swimming in 2 events and has one of the top three times in another even then that kid will swim. There is no coach that would choose to have a kid with a slower time swim over kid who have faster times. Swimming just doesn't work that way; kids who earn the spot to swim swim.

I’m the bs poster. I agree with how this is stated. I disagree that, as the above poster claimed, “With that said, swim team coaches preach non-stop about "dropping time", and can, and will, put swimmers with slightly lower scores into A meets if they're improving, over someone with better scores that have plateaued.” That would never happen.

Also in regards to coaches pushing "dropping time"...dropping significant time will really depend on the swimmer and the level they come in performing at. If you have a kid who is fairly new to swimming or who only really swims in the summer, they will likely see bigger drops in time from day 1 to the end of the season. Same is true for anyone new to a sport; you tend to improve quickly. however, for a someone who is already performing at a high level those drops are not going to be as dramatic.

That doesn’t matter. If a kid can do a 50 meter free in 32 seconds (and hasn’t improved all season), never goes to practice and never participated in swim team stuff is compared to another kid who attends all practices and started the season with a 45 second free and now swims a 34 second free)- the latter kid will never be placed in a meet above the former.

you are comparing too totally different things here. Yes, I agree that if a kid shows up for time trials, but doesn't go to practice and so forth, then yes, that kid shouldn't be put into meets. On our team you only get your swim team pin if you show up for at least 75% of practices. But if you take the same 2 kids with the times you posted above and both are active swim team participants, then the kid with the faster time, even if that time hasn't improved all season is the one who will and should swim in the A meet. It's great that a kid's time has improved, but to win meets you need the fastest times and seeding for swim meets is based on times, not who tries the hardest. I really don't understand why this is such a hard concept.

As I mentioned above, it is also much harder to drop time if you are already performing at a high level. If an 8 yr old comes in swimming 25m free in 17 seconds it will be much harder to take significant time off that than a kid who comes in swimming a 40 s free.

[Anonymous]

PP again.. I misread the person i quoted "That doesn’t matter. If a kid can do a 50 meter free in 32 seconds (and hasn’t improved all season), never goes to practice and never participated in swim team stuff is compared to another kid who attends all practices and started the season with a 45 second free and now swims a 34 second free)- the latter kid will never be placed in a meet above the former."

Though you were the one arguing that dropping time was most important. I actually agree with your post.. fastest kid always swims, unless they have a really bad attitude and the coach decided they don't deserve to swim. I can see a coach not putting a kid in who really never attends practice, but that is rare and there exceptions. My son swam in A meets and he only attended afternoon practices 2x a week because we work full time.

[Anonymous]

Most of the best swimmers on our team don't attend summer practices because they continue to practice with their year-round team over the summer (long-course season). Those swimmers still swim in the meets because they are the fastest, plain and simple.

But, again, everyone should keep in mind that summer swimming is fun and ultimately meaningless. Swimming a bunch of 25s and 50s is not break swimming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the best swimmers on our team don't attend summer practices because they continue to practice with their year-round team over the summer (long-course season). Those swimmers still swim in the meets because they are the fastest, plain and simple.

But, again, everyone should keep in mind that summer swimming is fun and ultimately meaningless. Swimming a bunch of 25s and 50s is not break swimming.

Real not break

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our team is very chill. But if you don't go to practice and don't get good times, don't expect to go to A meets.

This is how ours is. Anyone can join and you can come to whatever practices you want, but if you're not one of the best or most dedicated, you're not going to the A meets. Only about 25% of the kids and parents are very dedicated and there for every practice and meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the best swimmers on our team don't attend summer practices because they continue to practice with their year-round team over the summer (long-course season). Those swimmers still swim in the meets because they are the fastest, plain and simple.

But, again, everyone should keep in mind that summer swimming is fun and ultimately meaningless. Swimming a bunch of 25s and 50s is not break swimming.

It’s all ultimately meaningless if you want to look at it that way. Katie Ledecky found a lot of inspiration in her summer team, and would probably laugh in your pretentious face if you told her it wasn’t “real swimming.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the best swimmers on our team don't attend summer practices because they continue to practice with their year-round team over the summer (long-course season). Those swimmers still swim in the meets because they are the fastest, plain and simple.

But, again, everyone should keep in mind that summer swimming is fun and ultimately meaningless. Swimming a bunch of 25s and 50s is not break swimming.

It’s all ultimately meaningless if you want to look at it that way. Katie Ledecky found a lot of inspiration in her summer team, and would probably laugh in your pretentious face if you told her it wasn’t “real swimming.”

Yup. And Phoebe Bacon, the "next Katie Ledecky", is completely involved with, and one of the most enthusiastic members of, Tallyho's summer team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the best swimmers on our team don't attend summer practices because they continue to practice with their year-round team over the summer (long-course season). Those swimmers still swim in the meets because they are the fastest, plain and simple.

But, again, everyone should keep in mind that summer swimming is fun and ultimately meaningless. Swimming a bunch of 25s and 50s is not break swimming.

Mostly true, but I would not use the word meaningless.

Summer swimming competition is community based, it has much a stronger sense of "A TEAM". My son swims at a PVS team all year round. Most PVS meets for him is to drop time or make a cut to JO or LC Age Group etc. A summer meet (dual meet) is really all about the team score (of course, swimmers care about their all stars standing etc), there is a strong sense of a unity and a pride of being a member of a team. That is perhaps the fun part!